susanhewitt's Journal

I am back in NYC now, after three very lively weeks in San Diego North County, Southern California, Although I was quite busy with other necessities, and although the trip was not primarily a vacation, I managed to spend a fair bit of time making about 450 iNat observations. Three quarters of the observations were of marine mollusk shells that had been washed up on the beaches close to where my husband and I were staying.

I worked much harder searching for interesting local shells than I have for many decades, motivated by knowing that my observations would be useful to science and to other naturalists. :)

Because of my increased dedication, I did very well, finding more species than I have ever done before in this area, including several that I had never seen before. I have to give full credit to BJ (@finatic) for letting me know about a particularly good spot that he discovered after he surveyed all the State Park beaches from Oceanside to the Border.

I also need to thank @jannvendetti , @cedric_lee , and @silversea_starsong (James) for coming all the way down from Los Angeles to meet up with BJ and myself, making that day into a wonderful iNat meet-up. :)

I should also "thank" the local authorities for replenishing the beach sand in the area a few times during recent decades. Yes, replenishing beaches is a bizarre artificial practice which presumably disrupts the intertidal and subtidal fauna, but on the other hand, because the sand is pumped in from 60 foot offshore, it brings up onto the beaches shells of several species that live at that depth, species that would almost never be found by a beachcomber like myself, except possibly after a major storm, and maybe not even then.

And of course I also give my sincere thanks to everyone who put an ID or a comment on any of my observations. Although I know most of the shelled marine mollusks quite well, it was great for me to learn something about the local plants, fungi, insects, and even mammals!